A Christmas Story
by missannamc
Summary: Dean and Sam are holed up in a hotel with Castiel and Gabriel and Christmas is a few days away. What could possibly go wrong? Dean/Castiel & Sam/Gabriel
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I wrote this a while back, maybe a Christmas or two ago, and wanted to put it up on fanfiction. Let me know what you guys think **

Sam was rummaging through Dean's car looking for something, anything that would give him an idea of what to get for Dean for Christmas. There had to be _something_ he could do or get for Dean.

He shivered as a particularly strong wind washed over him and rattled the car. He quickly got in and shut the passenger door closed. He looked out of the windshield at the sky. It was definitely going to snow, and it looked like it was going to be bad. He sighed and rubbed his hands together to regain some sort of warmth in them, then ran in fingers through his hair. He still needed to find a gift for Dean and the answer was obviously not in his car.

"Why are you hiding in here?"

Sam jumped at the voice and looked in the back seat only to find Gabriel, laid out and comfortable. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm not hiding. I'm trying to think." Gabriel sat up.

"Think of what?" he asked, honestly curious.

"A gift for Dean." Gabriel leaned back again.

"You should ask Cas. Beside you, he's the one who knows Dean best."

"Yeah well Cas can't keep a secret from Dean."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If Dean were to ask, he'd tell him the secrets of the universe." Gabriel raised his eyebrows and smirked. Castiel was completely in love with Dean. In all honesty, he was shocked Dean hadn't seen it yet. Or maybe he had a he wouldn't admit it to himself. It all sounded very complicated considering how important sexual orientation seemed to be for humans.

"Well, um, is there anything Dean…wants?" he asked.

"I have no idea." Sam said. He sighed and relaxed his head against the headrest.

"Okay." Gabriel said, trying not to snicker at Sam's obvious frustration. He vanished and reappeared in the driver seat next to Sam. "Is there anything he's missing?"

Instead of jumping at the sudden proximity of Gabriel's voice he closed his eyes in thought. Despite the fact that he should've been unnerved by Gabriel jumping from one place to another, he was used to it by now with Cas and his issues with personal space.

As he thought, there was one thing that came to mind. The gold amulet Dean had thrown away awhile ago.

"There is one thing." he said as he reopened his eyes, "But it's more about my opinion then anything."

"What is it?" Gabriel asked. Sam looked over at Gabriel the looked back out the window.

"It's a gold amulet Dean used to have that I gave him when we were kids."

"What happened to it?" Gabriel asked slowly. Sam's tone told him that the story of the amulet was graver then he knew.

"Dean threw it away." He said closing his eyes again. Gabriel frowned. What could possibly cause Dean to do that? He wanted to know, but he knew asking would be too much. Sam sighed and opened his eyes again.

"I'm going back inside." he announced as he opened the door, but he paused and looked over at Gabriel.

"Don't tell Dean or Cas about this okay?"

"My lips are sealed." he said with a bit of a smile to lighten the mood. Sam rolled his eyes but smiled back, then got out of the car, closing the door behind him, and walked back into the hotel room the four were sharing.

Gabriel sat in the car in silence for a while, thinking. He knew he didn't really fit in with the little family the Winchester's and Castiel had created for them here, so he didn't really know where he fit in the little Christmas thing they're doing for each other. He didn't expect to be receiving anything and he was sure no one was expecting anything from him, but he wanted to do something for them.

He also knew that Sam was never going to find the amulet Dean used to wear, something Gabriel remembered he'd never taken off until Castiel asked him for it.

Gabriel decided that the best thing he could do for Sam was to find it. His involvement in Dean's gift, known to him or not, would be worth something. And Castiel would proud of him for trying.

With that last thought Gabriel vanished from the car, in search of Dean's amulet, hoping that he finding it would make them accept his presence a little more easily.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: small development for sabriel hooray!**

"Stupid fucking necklace hiding in the fucking corners of the fucking world." He said as he shoved Dean's amulet in his pocket, then vanished from Tokyo and reappeared inside the hotel room. Sam was flipping channels, relaxed on his bed, while Castiel was sitting in front of Sam's laptop with Dean hovering over him. Sam was first to notice him.

"Hey, Gabriel. Where've you been?" he asked, barely moving from his comfortable spot on the bed. As Gabriel walked over to Sam he quickly thumped his little brother over his head.

"Nice to see you too." He said with a sarcastic smile as Cas looked around Dean to glare at him. Gabriel flopped on Dean's bed, putting his hands behind his head.

"You owe me, man." Sam looked over at him, his eyebrows coming together in confusion.

"Why?" Gabriel stared at Dean as he fished in his pocket for the necklace. Once he was sure Dean wouldn't turn to look at them he pulled it out and dangled it in front of Sam.

"Ta da!" he whispered. The second Sam recognized the object he quickly sat up and took the necklace from Gabriel, staring at it in the palm of his hand. After a moment he looked up at Gabriel.

"How'd you find you?" he asked.

"With my angel mojo." he said, leaning against Dean's pillows again. Sam continued to stare at him in awe.

"Gabriel." Gabriel glanced up at him.

"Yes?"

"Thank you." Sam said as he closed his fist around the necklace. Gabriel smiled.

"Anytime."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: and now some destiel development **

Castiel was sitting on Dean's bed watching Sam and Gabriel talk to each other quietly while Dean took a shower. He could tell they were obviously hiding something, but he didn't try to figure out what it was. If it were something serious Gabriel would've told him.

Castiel frowned as he stared at Sam. What was he supposed to get him for Christmas? It was beyond him. He already knew what he wanted to get for Dean, but Sam seemed to be much more difficult.

He listened as Dean turned off the water and smiled as he sang to himself while he shuffled around the tiny bathroom. Sam and Gabriel smirked at each other and Gabriel vanished, then Sam stood up.

"I'll be back later." Cas nodded.

"Dean'll want to know where you're going," he said as Sam opened the door.

"Tell him not to worry about it," he said, then closed the door behind him, making sure Castiel couldn't get another word in. Cas shook his head and lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Dean was humming when he finally came out of the bathroom. Cas glanced over at him. Upon seeing that Dean was only wearing shorts, he returned to staring at the ceiling.

"Hey, where's Sam?" he asked nonchalantly.

"He told me to tell you not to worry about it." Dean rolled his eyes.

"Of course he did. What about Gabriel?"

"They're conspiring about something. Gabriel left just before Sam did." Dean laughed.

"Probably about gifts or something." He said as he rummaged through his bag for a proper shirt.

"What are you getting for Sam?" Castiel asked.

"A chance to pick the music the next time we're driving," Dean said, shooting Cas a smirk.

"It doesn't seem like we'll be driving during Christmas anyway. It'll be snowing by tonight."

"Yeah?" He asked as he pulled his shirt on. Castiel looked over at him and nodded as he sat up.

Dean collapsed next to Cas on the bed. "So what're you getting for Sam?" he asked.

"I don't know yet. I've been trying to figure it out…" He looked over at him, "What do you think I should get him?"

Dean pursed his lips for a moment in thought, then his eyes lit up mischievously. "You could give him permission to date Gabriel," he tried to say with a straight face. Castiel raised an eyebrow at him.

"Seriously?" Dean shrugged.

"They've gotten pretty close since he came around."

"You think they like each other?" Castiel ask uncertainly.

"I think they're working together and hiding things from you and me. They obviously trust each other. And that's where it starts, right?" Dean said as he sat up.

"Yes, I suppose so," he allowed. "It'd be interesting to see how they would turn out though. I mean, Gabriel is more…frivolous then Sam is."

"True. But I think Sam could handle it." he laughed, "I'm not all that surprised that Sam turned out…"

"Homosexual?" Dean laughed.

"Gay, Cas." Castiel nodded.

"So, uh, what are you getting me for Christmas?" Dean asked, bumping Cas's shoulder with his own.

"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Castiel said with a smirk, making Dean snort.

"Gabriel teach you that?" he asked.

"Sam did." Dean nodded with a smile.

"Well, I can't wait to see what it is." He said, then got off of the bed, leaving Castiel alone.

He closed his eyes and laid back on the bed again, taking in the smell of Dean's shampoo, a smell he'd become quite partial to, and sighed in content.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Time jumping about a week. This chapter's dedicated to purplesummer91 who gave Cas a cat because seriously it's the cutest thing ever and makes me so happy to see Cas have a cat. And there's one sentence that won't really make sense if you haven't seen it on the blog where this started but I didn't know how to reword it so I chose not to instead. **

**Also, destiel development.**

**Oh and wow seriously I didn't expect people to like it so much haha. Thank you for the favoriting and such. It's really awesome and makes me so happy. Reviews are pretty great too, but yeah :) I sort of love you guys.  
**

**And last but not least, if any of you read that sabriel one shot I have (Pizza With You) I've kind of been convinced to write more. So it just might turn into a big thing. But I'm currently behind on my NaNo novel so once I'm caught up with that I'll start writing more for that one. Yeah. Thanks guys!  
**

While Sam and Gabriel hung out in the kitchen Dean watched Castiel. He was openly talking and playing with the new kitten; he'd actually taken off his tie so that the kitten could thrash around the floor with it. He was completely enamored with the little blue-eyed creature and you could tell that it loved him back.

Castiel was sitting on the floor with it, watching as the tiny kitten rubbed up against his knee. He grinned down at it and scratched its chin, for which he earned a loud purr.

Dean smiled at how happy Castiel seemed to be with the kitten and couldn't help but envy Summer. She chose the perfect gift for him, something he was hoping he could give Cas through the winged necklace he'd bought. But he shook his envy off and crossed the room to sit on the floor next to Cas.

"Hello, Dean." Cas beamed up at him. He was so ridiculously happy with this tiny ball of fur.

"Hey, Cas." The kitten walked over Castiel's lap and onto his own. "Hi kitten." he said, petting it all the way down it's back. "What'd you name it?" Dean asked.

"I haven't yet. I don't know what to name him."

"You could name him Zepp." Dean said with a childish grin. Castiel rolled his eyes.

"I'm not naming my cat after _your_ favorite band…person…whatever." Dean chuckled.

"Fine then." he paused, "You could name it after Balthazar." he said softly. "I know how much you miss him."

"You don't know the half of it." he said with a strained laugh. "But no, no I'm not going to name him after Balthazar. They have two very different personalities."

"You could name him something random like Jake or Rambo." Dean offered, "Or Cat. He could be Cat the Cat. That would be awesome." Dean said with a laugh. Castiel chuckled and shook his head, but after a moment of thought, he spoke up.

"What about Jack?" he asked, looking up at Dean.

He took the tiny multicolored kitten in his hands and brought it up to his face. It meowed at him and pawed at him playfully. Dean laughed as the kitten nuzzled his fingers kindly, just wanting to be loved and petted in a continuous time interval.

"Jack is good." Dean said. Jack wriggled out of Dean's hands, then curled up comfortably on Dean's lap and promptly went to sleep.

"I don't even like cats all that much." he said, smiling fondly down at the kitten.

"Well, he likes you." Castiel said, trying to ignore the double meaning in his words as he reached over and pet Jack.

Dean smiled and continued to pet Jack as well, until Castiel's fingers brushed his. Dean glanced up at Cas the second time it happened, noticing that his fingers had lingered on his own. As Castiel stared back at him, he began to lose himself. Ever since the fangirls began sending in pictures and fictions and continuously pushed the two for them together he couldn't get Castiel off of his mind. And Dean felt like Castiel could see into his soul and that made him nervous. He wondered if Castiel could tell that he'd been on his mind. Dean and Castiel both opened their mouths to say something until…

"Just put it on!" Came Gabriel's voice, breaking the spell between the two.

"No!" Sam's voice yelled back in irritation.

Dean was stuck between relief and annoyance. He didn't know what could've tumbled out of his mouth when he'd opened it. He had no idea what he was about to say to Cas, which made him nervous. Yet, at the same time, he wanted to know what Cas was about to say. What could he have possibly needed to say?

"Please, Sam?" Gabriel begged.

"No." Sam said, a ring of finality in his tone. Castiel and Dean turned from each other to look over at Sam and Gabriel in the kitchen. Gabriel was hovering around Sam as best as he could in the small room, constantly getting in the way as often as he could, holding something in his left hand.

"Come on, Sam. Where's your Christmas spirit?" he asked as he cornered Sam again. He stared hard at Gabriel, willing him to go away. When that didn't work he frowns and held his hand out. Gabriel grinned and handed it to him and watched in satisfaction as he put on a hat with moose antlers on it.

Castiel and Dean burst out in laughter, which called Sam's attention. He quickly pulled it off, frowned, and shoved it into Gabriel's chest.

"You don't need to be so pushy." he said with a satisfied smirk, then vanished from the room. Sam sighed and shook his head, then smiled to himself before continuing his cooking.

"Watching them is interesting." Dean said.

"Can't help but wonder if that's what they see when they look at us." Castiel said as he stood up to look for Jack, leaving Dean frozen in shock on the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: alright, this one is longer so that's good. And this is one is where the gift exchange happens and I'm really excited for you guys because exciting things are going to happen soon. So soon. Very soon. Yeah haha anywho. On with the story!**

"Drink." Sam said as he gave Dean a cup filled with eggnog and Castiel a bottle of it.

"Why isn't mine the same as Dean's?" he asked, a slight frown on his lips.

"Because it takes more to get you drunk," said Sam with a grin. Castiel looked over at Dean, who was staring at him expectantly, then sighed and drank nearly half the bottle. He raised an eyebrow at Dean, then watched as Dean downed his cup. He laughed when Dean grimaced.

"Jesus, Sam. This is strong." he said.

"That's the point," he said with a nod, then left Dean and Cas on the floor with two more bottles. Each.

"Why the hell not, right Cas?" he asked as he took a swig from one of the bottles.

"Sure, Dean." he said before following suit.

In the kitchen Sam was adding the finishing touches on the food he'd actually made instead of ordered when he started drinking from his own bottle. But he nearly inhaled his drink when Gabriel suddenly appeared behind him.

"Gabe, what are you doing? Where have you been?" he asked, but Gabriel just raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're calling me Gabe now?" he said giving a slight smile.

"I think we're there," Sam dead panned. "Is that all you got out of what I said?"

"Oh, um, no. I was going around the world." he said with a smile and snapped his fingers, making a duffle bag appear. Sam stared at the bag warily.

"What did you bring?" he asked slowly.

"Fireworks." Gabriel said happily.

As Gabriel showed off the fireworks he'd found around the world, Dean and Cas were beginning to feel something.

"Dude, this-this isn't half bad," he told Cas. Cas nodded.

"It really isn't." he agreed. He snapped his fingers and created another bottle instead of getting up and walking over to Sam to ask him to make him some more. If Sam wanted him and Gabriel drunk, he was going to have to do better than that. Castiel drank down the bottle with ease. He didn't feel the effect of alcohol the way Dean did. Each time Dean took too big a drink he would wince as the liquid when down his throat.

"Here let me have some of yours." Dean said as he reached for Cas's bottle. Cas put it out of his reach.

"No. Sam made you your own on purpose."

"And what purpose would that be?"

"The alcohol in mine is stronger.

"Which is why you should share!" Dean insisted as he reached over Castiel's lap for the bottle. Dean lost his balance and tipped over onto Cas's lap, which made both of them erupt in laughter.

Gabriel had just finished explaining the importance of finding the perfect firework while Sam turned off the shove when they heard them laughing.

"What'd you do to them?" Gabriel asked, amused. He hadn't heard his little brother laugh like that in years.

"I gave them drinks. You want one?" Sam asked. "I made a stronger version of the eggnog for you and Cas."

"Sam Winchester, are you trying to get me drunk?" said Gabriel in mock-shock.

"That's exactly what I'm doing," Sam said as he rolled his eyes. Gabriel chuckled.

"No, it's okay." he finally answered, "I've got my own," he said as he pulled out a bottle of brown liquid from the duffle bag.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I forget what it's called, but it's a liquor that's made mostly of chocolate. I made some tiny adjustments to it though."

"More alcohol?" Sam asked.

"More alcohol." Gabriel affirmed with a smile as he cracked the bottle open and began to drink from it. Sam laughed and shook his head.

"But Cas, seriously. Just let me try it."

"No." Dean pouted.

"Why not?"

"Because it'll burn your throat." Castiel insisted. Dean scoffed.

"Anything you can handle, I can handle." he said as he swiped the bottle from Cas's hand. Castiel shook his head.

"Don't say I didn't tell you," he said with a shrug. Dean took a swig but quickly regretted it. Despite the burning pain in his mouth, he forced the liquid down, but quickly spluttered for air as soon as it was safely down.

"That's 100% non-distilled alcohol. You do know that right?" He asked once he could talk.

"I know," Castiel said, then gave Dean the look.

"Don't say it," he said.

"Well…"

"I said don't say it."

"I told you so," he said, then vanished when Dean tried to throw a pillow at him and reappeared on his other side. Dean hadn't expected Castiel's sudden change in position and jumped when Castiel's laugh was right behind him, causing him to fall over, which only made Castiel laugh harder.

Sam and Gabriel looked over at Dean, who was sprawled out on the floor and Castiel who was laughing so hard that there was no sound coming out of his mouth.

"We should probably do the gift thing now before they get too smashed." Sam said. Gabriel laughed.

"Good idea. I got Cas."

"I got Dean." they said in mock-determination. Sam walked over to Dean and helped him up.

"Hey, we're going to do the gift thing now," he said. Dean nodded.

"Sounds good," he said as Gabriel subtly stole the bottle Castiel had from him.

"Hey can I have some of this?" he asked as he reached out for the bottle, showing that he was going to take it anyway, despite Cas's answer.

"Yeah, only some, though," he said, watching Gabriel carefully.

"You know, Dean and Sam are going their gift thing now," he said matter-of-factly. Castiel's eyes flashed away from Gabriel and over to the Winchesters who were now making their way to the couch.

"Oh, okay," he said, following them. He spotted Jack on the floor next to Sam's feet and decided that that would be a good place to sit for now while Gabriel hung back a bit as he drank Cas's liquor, which happened to be extremely strong. Even he was getting a bit dizzy from drinking it, and he hadn't been downing it like Cas was.

"Okay, okay. I'm gonna go first," Dean announced, more loudly then necessary. He pulled out a box and handed it to Cas. First he looked at the box, confused and looked up at Dean.

"This is mine?" he asked.

"Yes, Cas. It's yours." Dean said, pushing the box closer to him. Castiel smiled and opened up the box, finding a silver wing upon a silver chain. He looked up at Dean, speechless.

"I saw it and it reminded me of you," he said with a shrug. Castiel pulled it out of the box and quickly put it around his neck.

"It's perfect," he said, sincerity leaking through his voice. Dean gave Cas a genuine smile.

"I'm glad you like it," he said. They locked eyes with each other and all of a sudden, Dean couldn't look away. Sam chuckled, but it was Gabriel, who cleared his throat, that brought Dean and Cas back to the real world.

"Right," he said, then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Sammy this is for you," he said and handed the paper to him. Sam opened it up and read it.

This coupon gives you, the passenger, a chance to pick the music for seven days (not in a row. You gotta mix it up a little bit.)

-Dean

Sam chuckled.

"Thanks Dean," he said, then nodded at Gabriel. Gabriel walked over and handed Sam a thing wrapped up in newspaper, then walked back over to his spot in the back to quietly observe.

"I, uh, I got this for you," he said, then handed it to Dean. Dean looked down at the object wrapped in newspaper. Strangely enough, he felt a strong bout of déjà vu.

"Okay…" he said as he pulled and ripped the paper. Under it he pulled out a necklace. But not any necklace, _the_ necklace. He took the charm in his hand and held it up close against his face, looking for marks and scratches that had been made to it over the years. He was shocked to find that each one was accounted for.

"Sam…how'd you find it?" he asked, completely in awe.

"Gabriel found it actually. That was his present to me." he said as he looked over at Gabriel giving him a slight smile.

"It was my pleasure," he said, returning the smile. Sam returned his attention to Dean, and was happy to find that Dean now had it on and was talking to Cas about their necklaces.

"And Cas?" Castiel looked up from Dean to Sam.

"Yes?"

"I'm giving you permission." Castiel's eyebrows furrowed.

"Permission for what?"

"To be with my brother." he said with a slightly smug smile. Castiel returned the smile with full-force smugness.

"Really? Well guess what. That's what I got you." he said. You could tell he was proud of himself. Sam scoffed and rolled his eyes, but began to chug his bottle of eggnog, which definitely had a kick to it, and avoided eye contact with Gabriel.

Gabriel had glanced over at Sam, but decided that now was not the time to grill him relentlessly about why he was suddenly red, and took a swing from Castiel's drink.

"Oh, hey. So I got you both something," said Cas as he searched the many pockets of his trench coat. He finally pulled out two identical rings and gave one to each other brothers.

"They're a Winchester emblem." he said.

"Cas…these are awesome." said Sam, who was thoroughly impressed. He'd created a 'W' within a devil's trap. The 'W' was red while everything else was silver, including the markings and the band.

"They're made to go on the middle finger of your right hand," he said as he watched Dean struggle to fit it on his left hand. Dean quickly corrected himself, then smiled at Cas.

"These are amazing, Cas," he said. Even Gabriel was surprised Castiel had thought of that and created them. It was perfect for the Winchester boys and they could easily pass it down if they were to choose to have children.

"I'm glad you like them," he said. All was calm for a moment, then Castiel jumped.

"Oh, Dean. I have one more thing for you," he said, then vanished. When he came back he was standing in front of Dean with his hands behind his back.

"I remembered that when we were answering a question for one of the people on Tumblr, you said that you'd want a dog. And that you felt you related to German Shepherds more than any other species," he said, then showed Dean what was in his hands. A German shepherd puppy was wriggling in Castiel's hands. Dean's eyes widened and his smile brightened at the sight of the puppy.

"Cas, holy crap," he said as he took it in his hands. The puppy crawled all over him and licked his hands and face and any skin it could get to.

"I got him a tag too," he said, handing it to Dean as he sat back down on the floor. Dean grinned as he realized the tag already had the name 'Zeppelin' embedded in it. He put his hand on Cas's shoulder.

"Thank you." he said. Castiel looked up and smiled at him.

"Of course."

Jack warily came over to Dean to investigate the new animal in the room. He and the puppy came nose to nose, sniffing each other before Jack lost interest and began to walk away, until Zeppelin used Dean's lap as a launch pad and jumped over onto of him. Surprisingly, Jack didn't fight or hiss or scratch at Zepp, but understood that that was the way the puppy played. Cas laughed as the two wrestled with each other.

"It seems they like each other." he said.

"Yeah," said Dean, "For a second there, when Zepp launched himself onto Jack, I was sure claws would come out."

"Good thing they didn't." said Cas with a nod.

"Do you want food? I want food," said Sam. At the mention of food, Dean followed close behind. Gabriel sat down on the couch near Cas.

"Those were pretty cool gifts," he said.

"Yeah."

"The puppy was the cherry on top," he said.

"I know." Gabriel shook his head and pushed the bottle into Cas's chest.

"Here, you're gonna need this," he said. As he began to stand up and walk away, Cas called him back.

"Hey, Gabe?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For trying with Sam. You found Dean's amulet for Sam. That was probably the best thing you could've given either of them." Cas said truthfully.

"I know," he said. "Did I do you proud with your humans?" he asked semi-sarcastically. Castiel laughed.

"Yes, you did," he said with a nod, then began again on his bottle of alcohol as Dean and Sam ate and Gabriel happily drank his chocolate liquor as he watched the dog and cat play with each other. They never seemed to get bored and he hoped that it would be the same for the human and the angel.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: BIG THINGS WILL HAPPEN AND I IS EXCITED.**

"You said you liked them!" Gabriel whined. Sam and Dean had finished eating, which slowed down the alcohol in both of their bodies, but Castiel and Gabriel had begun to share Cas's bottle. So it was safe to assume they were both drunk. Castiel was obviously a happy drunk, he laughed at nearly everything Dean had said whether it was actually funny or not, and Gabriel seemed to be a bit more of a childish drunk.

"I do, but I don't want it!" Sam said, a little louder than necessary. Despite the food, Gabriel had begun sharing Cas's bottle with him. Gabriel rolled his eyes, letting on that he wasn't interested in fighting with Sam anymore. Satisfied, Sam turned away from him to call for Dean until he heard Gabriel snap behind him. All of a sudden his hand was moving on its own and the candy cane that was in his hand was forced into his mouth. He turned around again to glare at Gabriel.

Castiel, who was watching the exchange, spoke up.

"You aren't supposed to put things in other people's mouths without their permission, Gabriel," he scolded. The child-like tone of his voice made Dean burst out in laughter, which made Castiel smile.

Gabriel rolled his eyes at his little brother, then grinned at Sam, who was still glaring at him. But Gabriel could tell he was playing with the candy cane in his mouth, despite the now half hearted anger in his eyes.

"Oh come on, Sammy," he said, still smiling, "You know you like it." Sam shook his head, defeated, and pulled out the candy cane from his mouth.

"It's not that bad." he allowed, which earned him a sincere smile from Gabe.

Again, Castiel was watching the two from the sidelines while Dean sneaked some of Castiel's alcohol, beginning to regain some of the dizziness he felt earlier. Castiel smirked and snapped his fingers, making a mistletoe hover above the two of them. Dean saw and laughed.

"You've been spending too much time with him," he said with a shake of his head before taking another swig. Castiel chose to ignore him and watched Sam and Gabriel both look up at the hovering flower. Sam's eyes widened and he blushed while Gabriel just shook his head and laughed.

"You underestimate me, Cassie." he said, then took Sam's face in his hands and pulled him down to his level, and kissed him.

Dean and Castiel's mouths fell open in shock and watched as Sam held his hands out awkwardly, not knowing what exactly to do. But the awkwardness of not knowing where to put his hands didn't last. Gabriel let go of his face after a moment, smiled, and walked away into the kitchen, leaving Sam standing in the middle of the living room, shocked. Dean raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. Sam frowned.

"Shut up," he said with a huff, and followed Gabriel into the kitchen.

"Hey, Dean?" Castiel said, trying not to slur as he regained Dean's attention. He knew alcohol was strong. After all, he had gotten drunk before. But everything in the liquor store was distilled. Although Sam's eggnog was slightly distilled, because of the adjustments Cas had made, him and Gabriel were getting drunk more easily.

"Wassup, Cas?" he asked, his words slipping together. Castiel eyed the bottle suspiciously.

"That isn't for humans," He said as he took the bottle back. Dean just laughed. "You wanted something?" He prompted.

"Right." He said, "There's something else I wanna give you." Dean tilted his head slightly to the left, but because his equilibrium was so off, his body began to tilt with it. Cas caught his arm and steadied him upright. "Are you listening, Dean?"

"Yeah, yeah man. I hear you. I hear you. So what is it?" he asked.

"I can't show you here. The rooms not big enough." Dean's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"The room?" Cas chuckled. If he wanted his gift to mean anything to Dean, he'd have to sober him up a bit. He'd have to sober himself up a bit, too.

"Yeah, the room," he said, with a smile, then took Dean's hand, and they vanished from the hotel room and reappeared in an empty clearing. Dean looked around, stumbled, and nearly fell. He managed to catch himself just in time, which was lucky because Cas hadn't planned on catching him that time. Before he called for Dean he closed his eyes and pushed out the alcohol from his system. Not all of it. He left just enough to make him brave. Then he reopened his eyes and found things a little more stable.

"Okay, Dean. Dean." He walked over to him, stumbled a bit, and caught himself on Dean's shoulder. Obviously not stable enough.

"Whoa, you okay there, Cas?" Castiel laughed.

"You're drunk," Dean snorted.

"I'm drunk? You're drunk." Castiel shook his head, and before Dean knew what was happening, Cas touched Dean's forehead with his index and middle fingers, and he knew what was happening. He was alert and wasn't in need of support compared to Cas.

"Whoa, hey. You okay there?" He asked, straightening Cas up.

"Yeah. I'm good."

"So, uh, why'd you bring me here?" he asked. Cas nodded and waved Dean's hand away and he pulled off his trench coat.

"What're you doing?" he asked as Castiel discarded his black suit jacket with his trench coat on the floor and began unbuttoning his shirt.

"I'm showing you my wings." he said. Dean raised an eyebrow at Cas, slightly confused as to why Cas had changed his mind, but didn't question him.

Castiel had a bit difficulty with the last couple of buttons but managed to finally get it off. He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair as he closed his eyes, his eyebrows coming together in concentration.

Dean watched Cas in fascination as the moonlight glinted off of Castiel's pale, sculpted chest and his hair looked as black as night, yet still perfectly messy. He'd wanted to see what shade of blue Castiel's eyes would take on in the moonlight, but his eyes were shut tightly. He watched as his shoulders rose and fell with each breath he took.

And then he saw them.

It started out like a moving shadow, like Dean had seen them the first time he'd met Castiel, but then he could no longer see through them. They slowly we're becoming solid. And as they solidified in front of him he could feel the breeze they were creating as flapped lightly in the wind.

Although he could see them, it was only barely. They were nearly as the sky.

Dean watched as the wings stretched to their full length of the clearing. Dean saw streams of moonlight cracking through Castiel's wings as they quietly encircled them.

"Cas…" he whispered as he walked toward Castiel, in complete awe of him. Castiel's eyes were now open and was watching Dean curiously. He just wanted to know what Dean was thinking, and he refused to invade his privacy by reading his thoughts.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"Why are they black?" he asked. "Aren't angels supposed to have white wings?" he countered with his own question.

"Yes. But when I went down to Hell for you, my wings…"

"Got singed?" Dean offered quietly.

"For a lack of better term, yes." Castiel allowed.

Dean was now face to face with Castiel, watching the moon reflect in his pale blue eyes, but was having some trouble focusing with the rustling of Castiel's wings around them.

Dean looked over to the left and stared at the intricate black feathers. He reached out to touch them. He just wanted to touch them…

"Dean," Castiel's commanding voice brought him back and he quickly retracted his hand.

"I-I'm sorry," he said, stuttering slightly.

"It's okay. It's what they do. They lure you in, make you want to touch them."

"Why?" Dean asked, completely enamored with Castiel and his story and the slight ruffling of his wings behind them.

"They're Heavenly in the literal definition of the word." he said, "And if I'm not in the right frame of mind they're deadly." he said as he watched Dean, looking for some sort of reaction. Fear, was what he was truly looking for though. But he found none.

"And if you are in the right frame of mind? What happens to you?" he asked.

"It feels…" Cas shook his head, trying to find the right words for it, "euphoric." he finished. "It's difficult to explain." Dean nodded and silence engulfed them for a while. In the silence Castiel's wings began to get restless and stretched out to their full potential. Dean's eyes widened and he took a couple of steps back to take in the full view of Castiel. And then they wrapped around the two again, forcing Dean to step a little close.

"Can I? Please?" he asked, begged was more like it. The power of the wings were not meant to be shown to humans, Castiel knew that. But Dean was different and although they stretched and folded with a mind of their own, Castiel knew he could control their power.

Castiel nodded at Dean and held his breath as Dean slowly reached out to the beautiful feathers laced onto the wing.

His fingertip brushed one of them lightly and Castiel shivered, causing Dean to turn his attention to Cas instead. Castiel shook off the momentary high and nodded at Dean, telling him that it was okay to continue.

Dean looked back at the wing and rested his palm against the wing. The wing lifted slightly and stretched, the feathers parting, giving Dean easier access. He ran his fingers through the wing gently, feeling the bone underneath, and shivered. Castiel wasn't joking when he'd said that the feeling was heavenly. Dean hadn't felt so good in years. Ever, maybe.

Castiel kept his eyes trained on Dean as he ran his fingers through his feathers, concentrating on keeping Dean safe from himself.

"Wow," Dean breathed. He dropped his hand slowly, reluctantly letting go of the feathers, and looked off at Castiel. Castiel's shoulders sagged and his wing curled in on themselves against his back. He hadn't realized how much work that really was to let a human touch his wings.

He felt his wings return to their transparent state and he took a cleansing breath.

Dean took the couple of steps to Castiel in two strides and lifted Castiel's head so that they were looking eye to eye.

"Cas… You're perfect." he said. Before they knew what was happening, what they were doing, Castiel had closed the small distance between them and kissed Dean.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: For me, this was the hard part.**

Gabriel was putting food on a plate, food that he probably wouldn't eat in the first place, hoping that Sam wouldn't follow him into the kitchen. Of course, he did anyway.

"Gabriel, what was that?" he asked a little louder then really necessary. Gabriel continued to focus on filling his plate with food.

"It was a joke," he said.

"It was a stupid joke," Sam responded with a huff as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Why are you getting angry at me? I thought you secure with your sexuality," he said, finally looking up over his shoulder at Sam giving him his usual sarcastic grin. "I thought you couldn't be swayed," Sam frowned.

"I never said I couldn't be swayed," Gabriel looked away and continued to pile food on top of food.

"Are you saying I swayed your sexuality?" he asked with a disbelieving laugh.

"Why can't you take anything seriously?" he asked irritably. Sam was beginning to lose his patience. If anything, Sam was not a patient drunk.

"I can be serious," Gabriel said lightly. Sam had had enough of this nonsense. He pushed Gabriel out of the way of the food and took his plate from him, setting it on the table. And then he wedged himself between Gabriel and the food, forcing Gabriel to look at Sam.

"Then be serious," he said. "Why did you kiss me?" he asked, his voice commanding. Despite the fact that Sam seemed to be much more intimidating then he'd ever seen him, he still refused to give Sam a straight answer.

"There was a mistletoe hovering over us," he said with an offered smile and a shrug. Sam towered over Gabriel easily as he slowly back Gabriel against the refrigerator, repeating his questions. Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"Because-" Sam could hear the half ass excuse come out of his mouth before it even happened. Maybe it was from the roll of his eyes or the way he shifted awkwardly from one foot to another. Or maybe it was the way he so easily surrendered to Sam, letting him overpower him. Maybe. But Sam was tired of hearing excuses, so he did the only thing he could think of.

He took Gabriel's face in his hand and kissed him the way Gabriel had only a couple of minutes ago. After a couple of seconds he pulled away and let go of Gabriel's face.

"Now I want you to lie to me," he said, looking him in the eyes, waiting. But Gabriel couldn't manage words correctly. His mind was twisted and turned in confusing ways, part of it from the alcohol in Cas's bottle, the other from Sam. Mainly from Sam, he thought.

As he stared back at Sam, he couldn't form the right words to produce another lie. He couldn't even produce words to tell the truth, something he was slightly thankful for. Of course his actions hadn't helped any.

Gabriel wrapped his arms around Sam's neck, pulling back down to his height and kissed him hard on his mouth. It took a moment for Sam to register what was happening, but when he did, he kissed back, pressing Gabriel against the door of the fridge.

Once they realized that Dean and Castiel had disappeared, they moved their rendezvous to Sam's bed.

And that was how Gabriel's shirt had come off.

That was all that came off though. Although the two of them were drunk, they were sober enough to know that neither of them were ready for anything below the belt. So the shirt and only the shirt came off. A little while later Sam passed out curled up against Gabriel's side.

He nearly jumped when Castiel appeared in the middle of the room with Dean mumbling something about the stars. Gabe watched as Cas tossed his trench coat and his suit jacket onto the couch and carried Dean over to his bed. He'd paused momentarily at the sight of Sam cuddled up against Sam, then sent him a smirk. Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him. He had never seen Cas take off his trench coat for anything and all of a sudden here he was standing with his white button up shirt untucked with one or two buttons at the top open.

"_You're_ going to give_ me_ that look?" he asked. Castiel shrugged and smiled.

"Cas…" said Dean as he reached out, blindly grabbing the air. Castiel snickered but gave Dean his hand. He hadn't expected Dean to pull him quite so hard onto the bed, which made Gabriel laugh, which made Sam shift in his sleep. Gabriel froze, not wanting to wake Sam up, while Castiel laid down next to Dean, who used Castiel's shoulder as a pillow and reached across his chest for his open hand. Castiel rested his cheek on the top of Dean's head while he gave him his hand, which was rested on his stomach.

Gabriel watched as Cas and Dean laced their fingers with one another like they've been doing their whole lives and saw how easily they fit together. He hoped that maybe one day he would find that one person he fit easily with. He hoped it was Sam. It was all too early to tell. Instead of thinking about the complicated he decided to shift the topic to Castiel.

"Cas!" he whisper shouted. He looked over at him, amused.

"What?" he whispered back. Gabriel saw the amused look on his face and almost began to laugh.

"We're whispering." Castiel chuckled.

"We never whisper."

"The things we do for the humans." Castiel smiled and nodded.

"So, what is it?" he asked, getting Gabriel's mind back on track.

"Right." he said, remembering that he'd called Cas for a valid reason. "So, what happened?" he asked. Castiel stared up at the ceiling.

"I showed him my wings." he said. Gabriel nodded.

"That must've been cool for him."

"He touched them." This made Gabriel stop in his tracks. That could explain why Dean was so touchy-feely with Cas right now; not to mention the alcohol. He frowned over at Cas, but he knew he couldn't see it, considering he was trying so hard to ignore him.

"Cas…" he said slowly. Castiel frowned and looked over at Gabriel.

"Don't. Please don't. I already know. I don't need you to lecture me about it." Gabriel frowned as Castiel looked away.

"This is why humans don't touch our wings, Cas. It makes them infatuated with us. And it doesn't last."

"I said I know!" he said, forgetting to whisper. Dean shifted slightly in Cas's arms, but fell back asleep quickly.

"Gabriel, you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow morning. Neither do I. But, if this is the end, I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts," said Cas.

Gabriel was about to say something when Sam turned from his right side to his left so that he was facing Gabe. He rested his arms across his chest and pulled his closer; Gabriel couldn't help but smile. He ran his fingers through Sam's hair which made him smile in his sleep.

Despite the happiness he felt, it was bittersweet.

What Cas said was true. They didn't know what was going to happen tomorrow. How Sam would now react to Gabriel and Dean to Cas.

He looked over at Cas who had his eyes closed, his head rested against Dean's head; he seemed like he was sleeping. The only thing that reminded Gabriel that he was awake was the slight movement of his hand against Dean's rubbing circles against the back of his hand.

He knew this would be heartbreaking for Cas if all of this was just the consequence of letting Dean touch his wings. It was dangerous, what they were doing, what they had allowed to happen. They had let the humans overpower them in every single way and this was their prize.

Bittersweet happiness.


End file.
